[Viva] Fwd: ICW NA Press Release - JM Criminalization Case

[Denise Becker]

This is a criminal decision on a person who did not deserve to be found
guilty.  The day a woman passes on HIV to someone else while she has an
undetectable viral load, I will be absolutely astounded.  It makes my blood
boil!  It is time women decided enough is enough of this deplorable law.

Denise


On Sat, Aug 17, 2013 at 2:21 PM, Margarite Sanchez <
margaritesanchez at gmail.com> wrote:

> Not all good news ... unfortunately.
> M
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: ICW NA <icwnacontact at gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 10:21 AM
> Subject: ICW NA Press Release - JM Criminalization Case
> To:
>
>
>   For immediate release
>
>
> WOMAN FOUND NOT GUILTY ON ORAL SEX COUNT,
>
> COURT SENDS IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO PROSECUTORS
>
> TORONTO, August 16, 2013 — A group of HIV organizations is relieved to
> learn that a Barrie judge has found “JM,” an Ontario woman charged with
> aggravated sexual assault for allegedly not disclosing her HIV-positive
> status before sex, not guilty of aggravated sexual assault for oral sex.
> The act was deemed to pose no realistic possibility of HIV transmission.
>
> “She should never have had to fight the oral sex charge,” said Jessica
> Whitbread, Global Chair of the International Community of Women with
> HIV/AIDS. “We deplore the Crown’s insistence on prosecuting this charge
> despite what the science tells us about the risk of transmission in cases
> of oral sex.”
>
> The Crown’s own expert, HIV specialist Dr. Irving Salit, said during the
> trial, “You have a better chance of walking down the street and having a
> piano land on your head than you do contracting HIV through oral sex.”
>
> “Today’s decision sends an important message to Crown prosecutors who have
> tried to expand the scope of the criminal law on HIV non-disclosure:
> criminal prosecutions for oral sex are not warranted,” said Richard
> Elliott, Executive Director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.
>
> Sadly, this woman’s ordeal is not over as she has been convicted of one
> count of aggravated sexual assault for not disclosing her status before
> having unprotected vaginal sex, although at the time her viral load was
> undetectable (meaning the risk of transmission was close to zero). She now
> faces potential jail time on charges similar to those faced by violent
> rapists. Her sentencing is next week.
>
> This conviction is the result of a problematic decision released last year
> by the Supreme Court of Canada. People living with HIV can now be convicted
> of aggravated sexual assault for not disclosing their status unless they
> use a condom and have a low viral load — at least in the context of
> vaginal sex. The ruling was condemned by people living with HIV, AIDS
> activists and legal experts as a major step backwards for public health and
> human rights.
>
> To limit the use of the criminal law against people living with HIV, over
> 1,000 supporters of the Ontario Working Group on Criminal Law and HIV
> Exposure (CLHE) have already called on the Ministry of the Attorney General
> of Ontario to create prosecutorial guidelines, due this fall.
>
> Said Elliott: “We continue to press the Ministry to fulfill its promise
> and develop prosecutorial guidelines in accordance with science,
> international recommendations and the expertise of people living with HIV
> and their allies to put an end to unjust and harmful prosecutions against
> people living with HIV.”
>
> For additional information, see:
>
> Positive Women: Exposing Injustice (free online documentary produced by
> the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network): www.positivewomenthemovie.org
> www.aidslaw.ca/criminallaw
> www.clhe.ca
>
> www.aidsactionnow.org
>
> Contact:
>
> Gilleen Witkowski
> Communications and Media Relations Officer Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
> gwitkowski at aidslaw.ca
> 416 595 1666 ext. 236 / 416 906 5554 (cell)
>
>
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>


-- 
www.denise-becker.com
Queen's Gold Jubilee Medal
Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal
cell: 250-870-1714
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